If you've ever tried to increase the shared_buffers setting in your postgresql.conf to a value that exceeds the amount of shared memory supported by your operating system kernel, then you'll see an error message like this:
copelco@montgomery:~$ /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
2009-07-10 10:14:04 EDTFATAL: could not create shared memory segment: Invalid argument
2009-07-10 10:14:04 EDTDETAIL: Failed system call was shmget(key=5432001, size=142516224, 03600).
2009-07-10 10:14:04 EDTHINT: This error usually means that PostgreSQL's request for a shared memory segment exceeded your kernel's SHMMAX parameter. You can either reduce the request size or reconfigure the kernel with larger SHMMAX. To reduce the request size (currently 142516224 bytes), reduce PostgreSQL's shared_buffers parameter (currently 16384) and/or its max_connections parameter (currently 23).
If the request size is already small, it's possible that it is less than your kernel's SHMMIN parameter, in which case raising the request size or reconfiguring SHMMIN is called for.
The PostgreSQL documentation contains more information about shared memory configuration.
The shared_buffers default value is low (for legacy reasons). If you increase it, PostgreSQL may request a shared memory segment that exceeds your kernel's SHMMAX paramter. You can see the current values like so:
copelco@montgomery:~$ sysctl kern.sysv.shmmax
kern.sysv.shmmax: 4194304
copelco@montgomery:~$ sysctl kern.sysv.shmall
kern.sysv.shmall: 1024
17.4. Managing Kernel Resources outlines methods to set the values permanently, but you can play around with the values temporarily (until restart) on the command line like so:
copelco@montgomery:~$ sudo sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmax=1073741824
kern.sysv.shmmax: 4194304 -> 1073741824
copelco@montgomery:~$ sudo sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmall=1073741824
kern.sysv.shmall: 1024 -> 1073741824
Once you have working values, you can fire up PostgreSQL (I've been happy with the kyngchaos distribution) with a LaunchDaemon file and launchd:
<!--?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?-->
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>org.postgresql.postgres</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster</string>
<string>-D</string>
<string>/usr/local/pgsql/data</string>
</array>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true></true>
<key>UserName</key>
<string>copelco</string>
</dict>
</plist>
And the launchd commands:
copelco@montgomery:~$ sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.postgresql.postgres.plist
copelco@montgomery:~$ sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.postgresql.postgres.plist
